News of new anime abounds

It's been a busy past few weeks in terms of anime release announcements; here are the highlights:

» In the span of one week, Funimation revealed details of six new licenses: "Ragnarok: The Animation," "Suzuka," "Aquarion," "Shuffle!" "My Santa" and "Mushishi." Another anticipated series, the CLAMP all-star adventure "Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle," now has a release date of May 22 for DVD volume 1 ...

» ASOSbrigade.com, the place to go online for any tidbits related to the U.S. release of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya," revealed a release date of May 29 for the first volume in that series. If you haven't visited that Web site yet, by the way, you should; the live-action "Adventures of the ASOS Brigade" videos posted there and the site's overall tone offer a healthy sample of the show's sheer quirkiness ...

» Manga Entertainment set a release date for the final chapter in the "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" saga, the feature film "Solid State Society." Regular and limited editions of the film, set two years after the events of the anime's second season, drop July 3 ...

Stan Sakai checks in

Rattling into my e-mail inbox last week was a lovely note from 2006 Kawaii Kon guest Stan Sakai. While the "Usagi Yojimbo" creator said he would not be attending this year's convention, he did make it back to the islands for Christmas and New Year's.